Born To Rule

Emilia Clarke’s role as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones has taken her from relative obscurity as an actress to mega stardom. And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.

- Anna Rich

If you’re a Thronie (aka Game of Thrones fan), you’ll have watched the much-anticipated meeting in ‘The Queen’s Justice’ episode of season seven of the epic series, between Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, and Jon Snow. The way that Missandei, her interpreter, handmaiden and herald, introduced her is a loaded intro, designed to intimidate Jon, who’s king of The North.

Game of Thrones (GoT) is all about the pursuit of power, but it’s no game. Despite being a fantasy series, the ruthlessness, viciousness and violence (and twisted sex scenes) put it squarely in the adults-only category. And yet it’s the most-watched show on television, by far. Sixteen million fans tuned in in July when season seven premiered, and the Twitter sphere lit up with more than 2.4 million Game of Thrones-related tweets that night. The mantelpieces of the show’s stars and producers must be buckling under the weight of shiny statuettes – the series has won 38 Primetime Emmy Awards, more than any other scripted TV series.

In its third season, the list of cast members ran to 257 – but they’ve been steadily decimated, as any Thronie would know. In the early seasons, a study comparing the number of deaths per episode in TV shows put the GoT body count at an average of 14. Even characters you’d think just had to survive are killed off with abandon. Although it can be wonderful to see someone truly repugnant (Joffrey, that’s you) get his just desserts, the show could also be billed as Ultimate Survivor.